Sleepless in Asoke? Curl Up at Bangkok’s 1st Nap Lounge

BANGKOK — Late nights? Red-eye flight? Suffering a creative block or merciless traffic at Asoke intersection? Sometimes it’s best to catch some sleep before getting on with life.

Billed as the first such innovative venue in the city, Power Nap Lounge opened this month as a place for at least 30 minutes of downtown napping.

Taking it to 60 minutes in a hammock costs 190 baht: the same as a 30-minute kip on a massage chair. Both end with a complimentary drink ordered beforehand – from a hot espresso to iced sweet potato milk – and two-hours of free Wi-Fi in a working space.

Slip on the provided dolphin slippers, socks and fisherman trousers before dozing off. There are six hammocks with pillows and soft blankets in middle of the nap room and lined along both sides are 14 black massage chairs with three different intensity modes.

Lights off. Ambient music fills the room. Electronic devices must be on silent mode and can be kept at provided lockers, each of which is equipped with a power socket. The venue also provides phone chargers.

The nap room is not completely finished. Located in the building’s basement, it lacks a ceiling; so vents, sprinklers and lead piping are exposed for that industrial chic aesthetic. And while the venue will provide shower facilities in the future, they will be exclusively for women due to limited space.

Owner Preyanun Areevijit first got the idea of starting the business after a long day of work. After realizing that forcing herself to keep working wouldn’t do any good, she turned to spas and power naps as a solution to her fatigue.

“Working too much, your brain gets tired and overloaded,” Prayanun said. “But if we give it time to recharge, only a few minutes, it becomes fresh and sharp again.”

Power naps became globally popular after it was found that brief periods of sleep (about 10 minutes to 30 minutes) can help boost creativity. Thus, “sleeping pods” recently have popped up in cities worldwide from New York to Hong Kong. Companies such as Nike and Google now allow their employees to have quick naps at work.

But the concept is relatively new and unfamiliar to Thais in general. Most customers are foreigners, Preyanun said.

“Thais still have a mindset that those who sleep during working hours are lazy,” Preyanun said. “Some Thais came in during lunch break, but said they didn’t want their colleagues to know they were here.”

Power Nap Lounge is open 7am to midnight every day. It’s located in the basement of the Interchange 21 Building, which is reachable from BTS Asok exit No. 6 or MRT Sukhumvit exit No. 2.